Category: journamalism is hard

Brookings' Bruce Reidel says that Donald Trump's $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia is "Fake News": I’ve spoken to contacts in the defense business and on the Hill, and all of them say the same thing: There is no $110 billion deal. Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but … Continue reading Stop calling everything “Fake News”

If you've ever wondered how to go about creating a narrative to drive public perception about a story, I'm here to help. I'd like to start, if I may, with a couple of examples. Back in January, NATO began major troop movements as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a mission begun in response to Russia's … Continue reading How to craft a narrative

Language, as in the study of a foreign language, is one of those things that fascinates me while also driving me absolutely bananas. I've studied several and struggle at pretty much all of them, but I enjoy learning about them and that's why I sometimes note interesting stories about language here at this very English-language … Continue reading Fun with languages

Everybody is myopic to some degree about their own lives, families, careers, hobbies, and other niches. It's human nature. But please, don't be this guy: CNN host Chris Cuomo said Thursday that, for journalists, being called "fake news" is "the equivalent of the n-word." "I see being called 'fake news' as the equivalent of the … Continue reading Not even in the ballpark

Here's New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet, on NPR's Fresh Air today: GROSS: When someone questions whether The New York Times is balanced or not during the campaign, for example, in its coverage of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, do you do like accounting where you count like the number of stories that have … Continue reading Who whines about the whiners?

I watched last night's VP debate despite my deep personal desire to, you know, not do that, and while I don't really think there's much of anything substantive to say about the debate itself (Pence won because, despite lying virtually non-stop from beginning to end, his performance was not as unpleasant to watch as the … Continue reading Fact-free checkers

A Syrian refugee who was reportedly denied asylum and was about to be deported detonated a backpack bomb outside of a crowded festival in Ansbach, Germany, yesterday evening. Fortunately it appears that only the terrorist was killed, but 15 others were reportedly injured in the blast--he was apparently denied entry into the festival before he … Continue reading Terror attacks, and how we Americans approach them